These days you hear a lot about the world financial crisis. But there's another world crisis under way - and it's hurting a lot more people.

I'm talking about the food crisis. Over the past few years the prices of wheat, corn, rice and other basic foodstuffs have doubled or tripled, with much of the increase taking place just in the last few months.

High food prices dismay even relatively well-off Americans, but they're truly devastating in poor countries, where food often accounts for more than half a family's spending.

There have already been food riots around the world. Food-supplying countries, from Ukraine to Argentina, have been limiting exports in an attempt to protect domestic consumers, leading to angry protests from farmers - and making things even worse in countries that need to import food.

How did this happen? The answer is a combination of long-term trends, bad luck - and bad policy.

WHO IS REALLY RESPONSIBILE? BUSH-CHENEY? WAL-MART? THE CHINESE GOVERNMENT? GREEDY AMERICAN CONSUMERS?

It's a vicious cycle. Far too many people feel that they have to shop at Wal-Mart because their prices seem to be cheaper on basic essentials, made in CHINA, of course.

AND THEN THERE'S THAT AWFUL WAR IN IRAQ THAT HAS CAUSED WORLD-WIDE SUFFERING AND CATASTROPHE....

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The rise of China and other emerging economies is the main force driving oil prices, but the invasion of Iraq - which proponents promised would lead to cheap oil - has also reduced oil supplies below what they would have been otherwise.

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And bad weather, especially the Australian drought, is probably related to climate change. So politicians and governments that have stood in the way of action on greenhouse gases bear some responsibility for food shortages.

Where the effects of bad policy are clearest, however, is in the rise of demon ethanol and other biofuels.

From lefty's link.

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"Behind every great fortune lies a great crime."Honore de Balzac

"Democrats work to help people who need help. That other party, they work for people who don't need help. That's all there is to it."~Harry S. Truman

As I understand it the cause is a combination of weather and government mandates to produce more ethanol for fuel. The result seems to be that grain fields are being converted to ethanol fields resulting in a huge drop in food supply. After all humans eat bread and rice and soy. And cattle consume grain. So there is a rise in the price of eggs, milk, beef, pork, chicken, etc... as farmers and breeders fuel and feed prices rise. End result is inflation for the consumer. And remember the American GDP is 2/3 consumer driven. Foreign countries invest in America because we are slaves to the system. Americans will simply work harder and longer in order to maintain the system.

In short you are all slaves to a capital system where the wealthy become more wealthy and the poor work harder and live in holes in the ground. Blame the educational system. As a collective Americans are fucking stupid.

_________________Look out kid, They keep it all hid.”
Bob Dylan “Subterranean Homesick Blues”

_________________"If the people allow private banks to control their currency the banks and corporations will deprive the people of all their property until their children will wake up homeless on the continent their fathers conquered." - Thomas Jefferson

It is welfare for those who got taxpayer funding for their ethanol plants.

Cans of beans, peas, and corn went up 16% in the pat month alone. Adjusted annually, that is about a 200% rate of inflation.

Edited for content. Rule #2.

_________________"If the people allow private banks to control their currency the banks and corporations will deprive the people of all their property until their children will wake up homeless on the continent their fathers conquered." - Thomas Jefferson

While environmentalists and opponents of foreign oil may have found common cause in the use of biofuels, a new, confidential World Bank report estimates that the recent increase in plant-based fuel production has actually contributed to a 75 percent rise in global food prices, sparking riots across the world and pushing millions beneath the poverty line.

This figure greatly contradicts the U.S. government’s finding that biofuels are responsible for only 3 percent of the rise in global food prices.

Senior development sources believe the report, completed in April, has not been published to avoid embarrassing President George Bush.

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"Behind every great fortune lies a great crime."Honore de Balzac

"Democrats work to help people who need help. That other party, they work for people who don't need help. That's all there is to it."~Harry S. Truman

"Perhaps freedom is not universal. Maybe it's only Western people that can self-govern. Maybe it's only, you know, white-guy Methodists who are capable of self-government." -- George W. Bush, London, June 16, 2008

_________________"If the people allow private banks to control their currency the banks and corporations will deprive the people of all their property until their children will wake up homeless on the continent their fathers conquered." - Thomas Jefferson

If Bush happened to fly over Belfast, he might have seen a message on a mountainside written especially for him: NO BUSH.

Hundreds of locals who don't like Bush or his foreign policies climbed up the boggy, fern-thick hillside of Black Mountain over the weekend carrying bagfuls of white cloth. They used the blankets, towels, bedsheets and other garments to spell out the message in 100-foot-high letters that could be seen for several miles away, including in central Belfast.

Bush's advisers said he was coming to Belfast to see power-sharing in action. Ironic, then, that massive security arrangements ensured that the Northern Ireland Assembly was shut down for the day and virtually no members of the 108-member legislature showed up for work.

Normally, Monday would be the busiest day of the week with a full assembly debate.

But the U.S. Secret Service insisted that the grounds around Stormont - a collection of government buildings that is the base for both the power-sharing coalition and the British government in Northern Ireland - be closed to the public since Friday. The area includes popular parkland and a children's playground. Security was so tight that a funeral planned to take place at a nearby Presbyterian church had to be postponed until Tuesday.

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Bush ended his trip shooting hoops with Protestant and Catholic children in Northern Ireland. He went 0-4.

The president stopped by Loughview Integrated Primary School in Belfast to highlight efforts to bring together Catholic and Protestant students. Most children in Northern Ireland attend schools that are segregated by religion.

Bush was visibly disappointed when his first shot turned out to be an air ball. Two more hit the backboard but didn't go in. His layup was unsuccessful, too.

When a young girl shot an air, Bush said, "I know how you feel."

The children were members of an organization called PeacePlayers International of Northern Ireland, a group that operates around the world to address sectarianism and to foster mutual respect and tolerance. The players were invited to the school to meet with Bush.

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"Behind every great fortune lies a great crime."Honore de Balzac

"Democrats work to help people who need help. That other party, they work for people who don't need help. That's all there is to it."~Harry S. Truman

The president stopped by Loughview Integrated Primary School in Belfast to highlight efforts to bring together Catholic and Protestant students. Most children in Northern Ireland attend schools that are segregated by religion.

Children in Iraq, whether they are Shiite, Sunni or whatever would be happy with just having a school to attend. We "Shocked and Awed" them back to the stone age with no intention of ever lending a hand back up.

_________________“I'm not a member of any organized party. I'm a Democrat.”-Will Rogers

The president stopped by Loughview Integrated Primary School in Belfast to highlight efforts to bring together Catholic and Protestant students. Most children in Northern Ireland attend schools that are segregated by religion.

Children in Iraq, whether they are Shiite, Sunni or whatever would be happy with just having a school to attend. We "Shocked and Awed" them back to the stone age with no intention of ever lending a hand back up.

Leading many people to realize that this is a Zionists action. I used to be sympathetic to semitism/Zionism until I seen how they treat their neighbors when given the opportunity.

_________________"If the people allow private banks to control their currency the banks and corporations will deprive the people of all their property until their children will wake up homeless on the continent their fathers conquered." - Thomas Jefferson